Hello Silky!
There are many joys in my life. Many of which are lush baths and chocolate focused along with the love of my family, God and friends. All of which I've talked of here on my blog but there is something or should I say someone who I love very much with whom I have never had the pleasure to introduce to you.
Silky
Age: 7
Favourite place: Anywhere she can swim.
Breed: Golden Retriever
Girl
I consider myself to be extremely blessed to have my girl. On occasion I had thought I hadn't anymore. For instance, when she was merely half a year old she was playing with Paws, our other family dog, when she rolled over and off the edge of my grandfathers back veranda. Should I point out that the veranda was a little over a story high. She fell into a pile of metal scrap that had been put aside for the build of the house. I had surely thought she was gone then and there. You can only imagine my 11 year old face when I found her limping out of the scrap pile with nothing more than a sprained paw. I wrapped it up for her but she just pulled away the bandaging with her teeth to lick her paw and I found her galloping around before we could even get her to the vet. I know you're not supposed to baby your pets but this I did to her. I simply love her too much. If loving too much is however possible.
The next time my heart nearly fell through my chest was two months ago, when I was taking pictures for my Cemetery Beach post, I had gone around a cliff corner thinking she was behind me and the next thing I knew she was gone. You see Silky being a water loving dog meant that you couldn't keep her out of sea nor puddle if you tried. The sea was wild that day. Twisted enough to scare I from going in. I tried to blink out all fears that she had gone in after scanning the surf then made my way with paws ahead thinking she must have run to the next beach. Three beaches and an hour and a half later, I gave up all hope in that she was still on the beach, praying out loud that she hadn't drowned, I heard dogs barking on the farm above the cliff edge. Sudden hope flushed through me that she the silly thing was with them. When I arrived in the farm yard I couldn't see her any where. The dogs were only barking at the raging wind. I had nothing to loose so I made my way to the front door, where the house keeper met me. When she said she hadn't seen a golden retriever I lost all humility and broke into tears. She called the jackaroo to help us find her. After another half hour he offered to drive me back to the graveyard where my car had been parked. Perhaps she had wondered back there by now. At this point I started to fully comprehend the fact that she may have drowned. The housekeeper went on the quad bike to scout the rest of the property whilst the lad whose name I fast forget, took paws and I went in his a ute. He kept telling me that dogs aren't silly. She would have known that the water wasn't safe for her and if she had gone in she would have been fast out again. So the only logic here would have been for her to go looking for me once we couldn't find each other. When we arrived back at my car she wasn't there but other dog walkers said they had seen a lost looking golden retriever wandering around the golf course. So next we made our way there, where we we neither found her. Silky never went out of sight. She never wandered further than mine eye could see. I once again found my self crying in front of a complete stranger. I never thought I would loose her this way. I'm not diluted. I know that all living bodies eventually die. I just didn't think she'd go like this. Then after even paws gave in to exhaustion and I started contemplating how I had lost our family dog four hours away from home, there she was. Sitting proudly between my car and my grandmothers grave where I always parked. She was covered by mud and wet to the bone. Who knows where she had been. But in the end the nameless jackaroo was right and she had come looking for me and if anything the ordeal had taught me to believe and keep going when all seems lost. Every stop I made that night on the five hour drive home (for a p plater) that late afternoon I was anxious of loosing her again. I had never kept her closer to me.
Like I said... I really really love her.
fff